I Love You
by SilverLocke980
Summary: Larsa looks at his past and thinks about a woman of blond curls that look like sunlight. PeneloLarsa


Oh shit.

I've become a Larsa/Penelo fan! Oh crap!

(I've been tainted _help_!)

But it's actually really good, some of the stuff on the Internet here.

So here's my own little bit for the Larsa/Penelo fans. I'm personally a Penelo/Vaan person, but the fics I've read with Larsa/Penelo makes me go "squee". And that's bad, because they all kind of make Penelo a statutory rapist. And nobody, I mean _nobody_, talks about that.

(But we'll skip that.)

And now for something completely different!

I love FFXII! And It's…

"SHOWTIME!"

I'm With You

Larsa could tell her, each and every day, that he loved her- loved the woman who had, upon seeing him, thought him cute. And he knows, in his head, that he'll never figure out a way to get her to _be_ with him- to live and love and cherish and hold, as the Kiltias would put it. She's older than him and it'll never work out, and Larsa was never a child to believe that it would all work out in the end.

The children of Emperors don't get to be children long, if at all. And with Vayne as an older brother, growing up fast is the best bet for survival.

So Larsa walks with her, telling her nothing. He jokes with Vaan and Penelo, because they are the youngest and stand closest to him in many ways- even if Vaan is as rude as the day is long, often cracking jokes involving the large pack of restorative potions Larsa keeps with him, asking him if he's scared of a scratch.

But Penelo laughs it off when Larsa fumes a bit, because Vaan is Vaan and means nothing by it- he has a good heart. And Penelo hugs him a little, and his heart goes _thumpa-thump_, because he's closer now than ever before to the woman he's fallen in love with and his heart is leaping in his chest.

And then they are attacked by a serpent launched from the rocks, Vaan's yell of "Snake!" and a barrel roll straight into the two of them the only act rescuing them from the fangs. And Vaan's got both his swords out and he's flailing at the beast, it's quick as lightning and Fran and Balthier can barely keep it pinned down with arrows and bullets. Basch is already there, and so is Ashe. Greatsword and katana come to the aid of broadswords, and soon the damn thing is dead.

He's still on the ground with Penelo, sheer shock and not desire making him hug Penelo all the tighter.

He tells his mind _Shut up_ when it whispers that she's holding him tighter too, but he can't convince his heart to stop beating in his chest like a songbird in a fierce wind.

&&&

They meet up later- he'd hoped they would- and she's even more beautiful. When he meets her she has a smudge on her face and a mace and shield in her oh-so-delicate hands.

(He wants to take those hands and put them where she never has to use them- where she never has to stain them with blood again.)

She smiles, though, tired as she obviously is, but silent; her day has been rough.

(There are elementals in this world and they can break you, even as you try to escape with blood on your hands and magic in the air so thick Fran was talking to herself to keep away the madness.)

Vaan (who's taken to carrying spears, he's lost the broadswords) smiles too.

" Yo, Larsa," he says, and he waves at him, tired and offhand. " Been a long day. Got a potion for us?"

And he does, and he's happy as anything to share it with them, trying to hold in his excitement so he doesn't sound or look like a giddy schoolkid happy to have his friends back with him. It's hard for the son of an Emperor to have real, honest friends, and those he does have he will treat well.

Especially her.

" Why do they taste like raspberries?" Vaan asks curiously after taking a swig, breaking the mood in the prince's head, so he snaps back a retort.

" Well, I'd presume it's because they are ingredients," he says.

And then Penelo laughs through her tiredness and Larsa could almost kiss Vaan, because making Penelo laugh as tired as she is makes his life worth it.

(It can't end well but even the children of Emperors can dream.)

&&&

If he had the magic, he'd kill himself right now, in a wave of Flare and Ardour and Shock. He'd kill himself right now, because his father was dead.

His father was dead.

And Vayne had killed him.

And it's ripping him up inside because his existence has just been destroyed by the man from Rozarria whom he'd trusted, his very life thrown out the window by a man who wanted peace as badly as he does. And he still likes Al-Cid and the man is the older brother Larsa _should_ have had, so he doesn't blame him; but the world is darker now.

(Can't say never because he does have one- he even used ot have three.)

He'd always known Vayne would do it; he'd been a child from birth, that one, and he wanted more. Always felt like the gods owed him more than being the third son of the Emperor who ruled half the world. Well, sorry, Vayne, but the world doesn't bow to your needs and your tears are sucked up by all the orphans who _really _had it hard.

Why, Vayne, why? He was _Father_, damn you! Why!

He'd never expected him to really do it, believed what his father told him when he'd heard Vayne had killed his older brothers, when the Emperor had caught him after a much younger Larsa had run screaming down the halls that his brother was a murderer. His father had told him the truth, the sad truth, that his brothers were bad men who'd tried to hurt House Solidor, and Vayne had done his- terrible, yes, but honorable- duty to the house. And Larsa, so desperate to get _some_ kind of good out of the ordeal, believed him and tried to forget the sound his older brothers would make when they laughed, or talk, or sang drunk marching songs, pissed on _madhu_.

But in his heart he'd known his brothers were no bad men and even his father had to lie to himself sometimes so that at least two of his sons would live, because the truth meant Vayne would have to die. And the Emperor could not kill the last of his two remaining sons, even if one would live.

(He was old then and his seed was spent- Vayne and Larsa were all he would ever get from another woman again.)

And so Larsa lived with his brother and laughed at his jokes and in his heart was terrified of him. He defended him in front of Penelo because he felt he had to, but in the end, he believed the world would be better with his brother dead.

And now he had the proof that if he'd only ever had the courage to stab him, to do to Vayne what Vayne did to his older brothers, his life would have been so much easier.

He stood to the side, away from the Gran Kiltias who had shown him the back rooms and mercifully left him alone. And then he did the thing Emperor's sons are not allowed to do, because everyone hates them if they are weak and so they have to show strength.

He cried. He was alone, as ever, like he was the night his brothers died, weeping into a sheet to muffle his tears. And he cried, and he tried to be quiet, because he didn't want anybody hearing.

But then _she_ was there, and he almost choked, because in his wildest dreams and greatest brightest most _best_ hopes she'd never, ever do such a thing of her own accord, in a place or time he did not have a hand in controlling or that was not somehow tied to his position.

He cried into her. And the world grew a little less dark after that.

&&&

It's been three years.

That's a long time but a good one, and a peaceful one- Al-Cid pulled it off. The hardliners of Rozarria were dead, and peace was achieved, Ashe sitting as mediator, as her father should have, with Basch watching on in the armor of his twin brother and sharing hidden winks with the woman who may have- just may have- stolen her heart.

(Larsa will figure out a way to marry the two if it bankrupts Archadia. And he thinks he has it- because Judges can, in Archadia, land of democracy, be used as nobility for the purposes of marrying them to foreign countries, and Dalmasca is now, finally, a foreign power again.)

Balthier and Fran survived, amazingly, and he's heard they've discovered new lands. He hopes the viera and the hume are happy together, into Balthier's old age.

(He hopes Fran remembers the good times and not the bad, because Balthier will grow old when she will not.)

And then Vaan… the only companion, oddly enough, that has grown to annoy him, because it turns out that Vaan is a damnably effective sky pirate who still carries a grudge against the Empire, even now that it is being run by a friend. He's quick and he's daring and he's the darling of Dalmasca, because he regularly showers the poor of Rabanastre with gold stolen from Archadian coffers. Larsa can't keep up with the cash he's lost to that damn man, but even as he curses Vaan for thievery, he makes sure to order his soldiers not to kill Vaan, and places no bounty on his head. Vaan has never killed a single soldier on his attack runs and the most he does is give a few of them a sound beating.

(Larsa could have told them that the man who flies the airship known as _Kiltia_- for the slaughter of Mt. Bur-Omisace by Bergan shook Vaan greatly- was stronger than any of them, strong enough to face the Undying. But he doesn't because that reveals too much.)

And Larsa knows that, if any of his men _did_ kill Vaan, for any reason, he would kill them himself. He has not forgotten how to use the twin swords he still carries on his waist, and his pack of potions is ever stocked, though he doesn't know why.

(It's a connection to his past, to the year he loved best out of his short life, and maybe he simply can't bear to be rid of it. It has too many fond memories, maybe those of handing Penelo a drink when she got hurt.)

(He is ruler of a large land, but his dreams are small.)

Penelo is the only mystery because she has disappeared. She's not with Vaan and none of the reports involving the others have anything to do with her. Larsa has no idea where she could have gone, though in his head he wonders if she went back to Migelo's shop in Rabanastre and started running it for the old Bangaa.

So Larsa sits and Larsa rules, and he refuses the women who would share his bed and his throne. And he, old enough to be king and young enough to believe that he'll never have what he wants, sits and dreams soft dreams of a woman who held him when he cried.

And one day, his guards come in, confused as anything, because Judge Magister Gabranth has ordered them to line up. They do so, armor clanking, and then the Magister, completely out of character, shouts out that a good friend has come- the name that flows out of his mouth is one Larsa almost can't comprehend.

" Penelo has come to see you, sir."

Larsa chokes. And she's _there_.

" Hey, Lamont," she says, and she's smiling at him, so very sad and happy at the same time, walking up the steps to the throne no one is allowed near.

He almost feels like crying again.

&&&

It's been two years. Life has been good to him.

(Gabranth- Basch- is gone, married to Ashe in a very royal, very powerful ceremony. Larsa removes all record of the man called Gabranth having any blood ties with anyone at all, and no one connects Basch to his brother ever again.)

He's old enough now to realize that sometimes, you get everything you ever wanted, and you always get what you deserve. And he's been a good boy for a very long time now, and he has received what he deserved.

And lying next to him as he thinks these thoughts is his wife, with golden curls.

His heart no longer goes _thumpa-thump_ near her, except when she smiles.

-

_The Empire of Archadia, on this Year of the Father XXXX, has Decided that, to make Amends with the Kingdom of Dalmasca for Incursions and Atrocities committed within Her Borders, that Dalmascan Blood should flow in the Veins of the Ruling House; and so, on this Day of the Father XXXX, the Empire of Archadia joins in Marriage before the Gran Kiltias Relj the Hearts and Blood of one Emperor Larsa Solidor, of the Royal House of Solidor, and Penelo Lowwalker, crowned Nobility by the Queen of Dalmasca, Ashelia Bnargan Dalmasca, this Year of the Father XXXX._

Imperial Decree 8907

Authored by the honorable Marquis Ondore

As Witness, Judge Magister Gabranth for the Empire of Archadia

And the Noted Sky Pirate Vaan Ratsbane for the Kingdom of Dalmasca

Signed aboard the Sky Pirate Airship _Strahl_

With the Good Graces of her Two Captains, Balthier and Fran Bunansa

(_Also called the marriage decree_.)


End file.
